ELLEN F. O’CONNELL/Staff Photographer MinSec located in the former Altamont Hotel at the intersection of West Broad and North Church streets in Hazleton Monday.

ERIC CONOVER/Staff Photographer Chief Frank DeAndrea of the Hazleton Police Department makes comments Monday about the possible effects of some children who are crossing the border being placed in Hazleton. DeAndrea talked with members of the local media following a press conference held by U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, PA-11 on the subject of children crossing our borders at the CAN DO Renaissance Center in Hazleton.

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The crisis of unaccompanied children streaming across the nation’s southern border from Mexico and Central America has gone from 2,000 miles away to downtown Hazleton, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta said during a press conference Monday morning.

Barletta will be traveling to McAllen, Texas, to see the problem firsthand and seek answers to questions regarding the children’s status, medical conditions and where they will be housed when released by U.S. border patrol agents.

“We’re not talking about housing unaccompanied children at some military installation in Texas,” he said. “There are people looking into housing them right here in our communities, and in towns just like this one, possibly all over America.”

One location that the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, which works with the Department of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with placing the children in detention centers, inquired about is the former MinSec and CEC corrections facility in the Altamont Building in downtown Hazleton.

Sean McDougall of Minsec Properties said he didn’t think the facility was coming to Hazleton and said to his knowlege MinSec received no letter of intent.

Barletta said he has reached out to city officials about the inquiry, and intends to get answers on a federal level before facilities in communities such as Hazleton are used as detention centers. Other locations mentioned include Berks County and New York, he said.

“So when I get to the border later this week, I will be looking for answers to some very specific questions,” Barletta said. “I want to know what health screenings are being conducted. What assurances do we have that the minors being transported to communities within the United States are not carrying contagious diseases? What background checks are being done? And where in America will they be housed?

“Who will be paying for this? And why is this just America’s problem?” he asked.

Children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador must pass through Mexico to get to the United States, and Barletta questioned that country’s involvement or lack thereof.

“Why is the United States the safe haven? I believe they share a responsibility,” he said. “The countries involved need to take responsibility.”

Barletta also questioned President Obama’s commitment to securing the borders and solving this problem. The president planned on Monday to ask Congress for $2 billion to speed deportation of more than 52,000 children who have crossed the border.

National security is also a concern, Barletta said, as the drug cartels and terrorist groups could use the crisis at the border to infiltrate the country. Even those children, some of whom are teenagers, could be older and involved in these groups, he said.

Those entering the country seek “permisos,” or court dates that will allow them to stay temporarily in the United States before deportation proceedings, Barletta said.

“From there, of course, they plan to just fade into the fabric of our neighborhoods,” he said. “I have grave concerns about the risks to our national security resulting from this growing problem.”

Hazleton police Chief Frank DeAndrea, who attended the press conference, also has concerns. His concerns stem from potentially housing some 200 children in the city, and how that would affect an already undermanned police department, the school district, medical facilities and the community as a whole.

“I want to thank the congressman not only for his efforts on a national security front, but for the fact that he has not forgotten about the little guy, the small community,” he said. “The issue I look at is not a national security issue, but a City of Hazleton security issue.”

Barletta brought this issue of using the Altamont, which last served as a minimum security prison in downtown Hazleton, to house children who crossed the U.S. border illegally to the city’s attention two weeks ago, he said.

“At some point, we will put a property or company in there that will benefit Hazleton,” McDougall said.

DeAndrea believes placing the children here will also bring the criminal element that preys on children and places them into prostitution and child pornography.

“I don’t have enough police officers now to deal with the issues that we have,” he said.

DeAndrea believes communities need answers to numerous questions and support in place to help them deal with the influx, which they likely can’t prevent. The city would have no choice but to approve the facility if the applicant met the zoning requirements and rules, he said.

“It’s almost like the federal government is trying to hide these kids so they could just disappear into the mainstream population and just disappear,” he said. “Then, they’re no one’s issue, but they’re everyone’s issue.”

McDougal said MinSec wants to retain the building and find a tenant.

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